Return to Lonesome Dove (1993)

Best movie ever!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

When you get right down to it, could a mini series really have worse circumstances surrounding it and carry the burdens Return to Lonesome Dove does? Not only is it a sequel to a timeless classic like Lonesome Dove thus having a hard act like that to follow, but its also not written by the original author and is disliked by the original author to boot. That's a tall order for any story.But amazingly, Return to Lonesome Dove is up to that challenge. That is if you look past all the controversy and the fact that its not written by McMurtry, if you do you will see a very rich and entertaining mini series. It stays true to McMurtry's characters, Captain Call, Clara Allen, and Pea Eye are all the same. Newt's growth as a character evolves nicely and believably for a young man growing up on his own. The new characters are compelling and believable and they interact seamlessly with the familiar ones from Lonesome Dove. The storyline itself is believable and riveting as well. Its not Lonesome Dove, but its well worth watching and a worthy successor.Its a great pity that McMurtry denounced this movie as being non canon, for in my humble opinion it is superior to his own sequel offering of Streets of Laredo, a book that was depressing almost to the point of being unreadable. Don't get me wrong, I'll always be grateful to McMurtry for Lonesome Dove and have the utmost respect for him, great author, but he does the fans of his story something of a disservice by denouncing the sequel mini series. I suggest overlooking him just this once. You will miss out on another great story if you don't.

Lonesome Dove was one of he greatest cowboy movies ever made.. Pulitzer Prize winning novel, 17 nominations, 15 awards... Return to Lonesome Dove,,, hmmmm??? I'm sure I could have watched this (I watched Bad Girls) had it not had Lonesome Dove in the title but I was expecting to see "something" like Lonesome Dove.. This ain't it....The original,,, LD,,, was written in Pulitzer Prize winning language.. RTLD was written by the same people who brought you "Spencer for Hire". The original had a dark, serious, no nonsense feel.. RTLD had the made for TV,, let's get the 18 to 45 crowd,, don't want to confuse anyone,, PC, touchy, feely, family entertainment feel.. And by all means,, start the movie with (eye candy) a beautiful,, young,,, female,, pistolero,, in form fitting clothes,, blowing holes in Gus McCrae's grave marker... What could this possibly mean???? Dah...And by all means,, change the laconic Capt Call character,,, completely.. Make him more like Gus this time.. Lots of body language, jovial, friendly, more smiles,,, an all around more likable guy... And by all means,,, make sure he is inebriated with verbosity... Looks alone don't do it anymore,, people may be given to thought if a character isn't moving his lips... All "seemingly" empty spaces must be filled with dialogue,,,, or music..I could go on and on about the shallow, generic characters, weak acting and the unbelievability of the situations but,,,, I watched only 30 minutes of the first installment... My time would have been better spent watching paint dry....This Mesterpiece is proof that diamonds can indeed be turned back into coal....

I had my reservations about watching The Return to Lonesome Dove after seeing and enjoying the original so much. Without Tommy Lee Jones reprising his role as Woodrow Call or Anjelica Huston as Clara, I figured it just wouldn't seem authentic enough. Upon viewing 'return' I can honestly say it's a worthy successor. The actors really make the show with Jon Voight, Rick Schroder, and Oliver Reed all preforming at their very best. I admit the story might not be quite as engrossing as the first, but 'return' definitely has it's share of excitement and captures the romance of the old west in a way that few other films have. Anyone who still has reservations can rest assured that The Return to Lonesome Dove succeeds in capturing the 'feel' of the original and will not disappoint. Do yourself a favor and check it out, Ol' Gus would be proud!

The first time around, I was so shocked not to see Robert and Tommy, all that could go through my mind was how bad this production must be.The second time around, after i had had a little talk with myself, i snapped on reality. If i wanted to watch Lonesome Dove, all i had to do was go buy the video. (strangely, i had already bought the video and worn the cassette out, but guys can get so focused on trivia).This is not Lonesome Dove, this is a new story with new actors and actresses faced with a chore greater than good acting. They have to live with Lonesome Dove, the greatest mini in history. And they have to tell us a new story.Now, I don't have the nerve of Jon or Barbara, i would never have tried it, but they did. And they did a damn fine job.The second time i watched this mini, i enjoyed it a lot. As well as a chance to think of old friends, i got to meet new ones. And it was a good tale, told in a good way. It may not totally get to Lonesome Dove standards, BUT WHAT DOES?? If we measure everything against Lonesome Dove, we could throw away our tv's. And to be fair, if we measure everything else against Return to Lonesome Dove, we might not throw our tv's away, we would just unplug them for the evening.I liked it. It is a good mini. I hope you each will watch it twice. The second time, you might just enjoy it. Robert and Tommy will not mind, I promise.